T.I. reveals how the war on drugs affected his family in Atlanta

Atlanta rapper and actor T.I. discusses the impact the war on drugs has had on his family and community in particular and society in general, saying crack was introduced into black communities, that crimes involving crack drew harsher penalties than those involving powder cocaine, and that the prison industry is turning incarceration into a business model.

"The lower level drug offenders got the most time. It just destroyed communities," he said in an interview for Vevo's Why I Vote project. "I vote to fix the inequality that exists in America today."

AJC file photo: Curtis Compton

"I grew up in the west side of Atlanta, late 80s, early 90s," he said during the interview. "That's when you started experiencing people being gone for a long time. My uncle, that was the first person I knew that went to prison. They gave him 10 years for conspiracy for distribution of cocaine. It was kind of unreal to me. That was the only person who really took some real time to kind of mold me as a man."